Texas Football: DeMarco Murray heads back to rival OU as RB coach

The Texas football program will now have to face a former star running back of OU who will be on their coaching staff as an assistant to Lincoln Riley.

A rival of the Texas football program that often frustrated this fan base back in the day is heading back to the program he once racked up so many rushing yards at. Former Oklahoma Sooners star running back DeMarco Murray is headed back to Norman as an assistant coach after his lengthy stint in the NFL with numerous teams.

The Texas Longhorns football program saw a good portion of its coaching staff turnover entering the 2020 offseason. Oklahoma didn’t have all that much coaching turnover under head coach Lincoln Riley in the last two years, but they did have one key addition to their staff this month with Murray.

And Murray was reportedly high on the idea of getting to return to Norman, now as the running backs coach instead of coming out of the backfield as a star player of the team.

Here’s what Murray had to say about his return to the Sooners as their next running backs coach.

"Obviously I never thought I’d be back coaching at the place where it all started for me. Having the opportunity to come back and be among great coaches and be with some of the people I grew up with is exciting. I’m thankful for the opportunity Coach Riley is giving me and I’m looking forward to being back home."

Along with some of the changes that head coach Tom Herman made to his coaching staff entering the 2020 offseason, this is one of the more significant changes in the Big 12 since the turn of the calendar year. The Baylor Bears turning over nearly all of their coaching staff, including the hiring of former LSU Tigers defensive coordinator Dave Aranda as their next head coach, was very notable too.

Murray racked up more than 5,200 total yards from scrimmage to go along with 63 total touchdowns during his four year playing career at Oklahoma. He played for the Sooners from 2007-2010. The Dallas Cowboys then selected him in the third round (71st overall) of the 2011 NFL Draft.

The football coaching career for Murray actually started under head coach Kevin Sumlin with the Arizona Wildcats last year. Murray was Arizona’s running backs coach for one year. He now moves onto his second coaching roles in the college football ranks with Oklahoma.